Yukoners to attend 2009 NHL All-Star game
Yukoners Naomi and nine-year-old Matthew Blindheim's first NHL hockey experience will no doubt set the bar pretty high for all future games.
Yukoners Naomi and nine-year-old Matthew Blindheim's first NHL hockey experience will no doubt set the bar pretty high for all future games.
Thanks to the McDonald's In the Line Up contest, the two will be in attendance at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game, which will be held in Montreal in January.
"It was all very exciting and my son was in absolute disbelief that he's going," Naomi said about winning the contest last week. "He is starting to clue in now that he's really going."
The McDonald's In the Line Up contest awards 12 regional winners across the country every year for a three-day trip to the host city of the All-Star game.
All 12 children will have the opportunity to accompany the players out onto the ice during the national anthems.
Among the prizes for last year's contest included a round-trip ticket, hotel fare and tickets to both the Doge/NHL Super Skills and NHL All-Star game.
Naomi and Matthew found out they were going one week ago after entering every day for a whole month.
Matthew, a goaltender in the Whitehorse Minor Hockey League, is a fan of Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo and hopes he will be one of the players out on the ice in January.
Naomi said the part she is looking forward to most is seeing Matthew out on the ice with the players during the national anthems.
"I am going to have my video camera, my regular camera, I am going to have it all out," she said. "It is going to be so much fun. I am hoping that by some miracle Luongo will get to be with him because that would just be the icing on the cake."
She said it's going to be a great time to spend with her son.
"He has never been to a hockey game before in his life," Naomi said. "This is going to be the first one and it will be the ultimate one. I said ‘Any hockey game you go after this is going to seem kind of boring because you don't get to go into the dressing rooms or anything.' It will be kind of tough to follow."
Matthew said he is looking forward to the whole experience, especially about being able to go out on the ice with the players.
Comments (1)
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Frank Magno on Dec 18, 2008 at 8:33 am
What a great opportunity for young children to experience a chance of a lifetime. When I think of the Yukon, I envision too far north for me, however, having a youth hockey player come all that way to Montreal and being on the ice with hockey NHLers, is something only McDonald's knows how to create!
Sometimes, I wish I was twelve again!